Any one take Omeprazole or Prilosec?

[pandemonium]

Great post Squirrel!! I am going to change my eating habits as well like never eating pizza again, found this out the other night, it really is your body telling you not to eat the trash you eat i think and its disgusting that i have asked Dr's what can i do to help this problem like change my diet and they dont help with that they just give you pills!! They give pills for every problem now and its bs, thy are so owned from the drug companies now that thats all they push is damn pills that havent even been around long enough to see the problems you might end up with from taking them, like these heartburn pills, there is no long term effects yet known on them.

 

[mballi3011]

I developed heartburn on the second day of a 2 week stay in Jamaica. Now it ended up being acid relux and it took my Cardiologist to find it. She prescripted Protonex and I take one a day for ever. I have not taken it for maybe 3-4 days and after that I will never miss a day. I really don't care how much it cost I will make it. I have found that if I eat anything atleast an hour before we go to bed I'll be up all night with a heartburn that will not let you slepp for poop. Diet will help with the reflux but I will never miss that little pill.

 

[eman]

Been taking one 150 mg ranitidine a day for the last 3 years and if i'm eating a heavy tomato sauce for supper i take another b4 then.

 And b4 you say just live w/ it GERD has been proven to cause / accelerate esophogial cancer.

  that is what killed my mom .

 

[pandemonium]

Been taking one 150 mg ranitidine a day for the last 3 years and if i'm eating a heavy tomato sauce for supper i take another b4 then.

 And b4 you say just live w/ it GERD has been proven to cause / accelerate esophogial cancer.

  that is what killed my mom .

agreed it does damage the esophagus

 

[werdwolf]

Here's my 2 cents.

Reflux, Heartburn, GERD, or whatever else you wan't to call it is usually multi-factoral.  The Proton pump inhibitors(PPIs) like omperazole, Prilosec, and the mirror image (reverse Isomer) Nexium are but a few.  These certainly have side effects, and once you have been on them a while it is almost like an addiction to get off. Things you can do however to decrease the symptoms:

1) as Squirel said do not eat for 2 hours before bedtime.

2) Do not  use multiple pillows to prop yourself up (this just increase the intra-abdominal pressure and forces acid back into the food tube), elevate the head of the bed (2 2*4 under head of bed, 1 under any middle post and the footboard on the floor.)

3) avoid bulbs (garlic, leaks, onions) especially in the evening as they weaken the sphincter muscle.

4) IF you are having recurrent heartburn, that is an indicator that you have chronic inflamation of the food tube (esophagitis).  This should be taken seriously as it raises your risk of cancer.  Do not drink acidic or alcoholic beverages until you have this under control.

5) If you have a lot of nightime reflux despite all of these things you can try 1 oz of liquid antacid literally immediatley before you go to bed, and do not drink water after it so that it will lay in the food tube while you are sleeping.

Disclaimer: This is just general information and should not substitute as the advice of your physician.

 

[meateater]

Great post Squirrel!! I am going to change my eating habits as well like never eating pizza again, found this out the other night, it really is your body telling you not to eat the trash you eat i think and its disgusting that i have asked Dr's what can i do to help this problem like change my diet and they dont help with that they just give you pills!! They give pills for every problem now and its bs, thy are so owned from the drug companies now that thats all they push is damn pills that havent even been around long enough to see the problems you might end up with from taking them, like these heartburn pills, there is no long term effects yet known on them.

Pizza is not the culprit. If you make your own with no salt, or less salt it works. Fresh ground pork instead of store bought sausage, Tomato sauce instead of pizza sauce. Add fresh herbs and smoked cheese. Cook the meats and drain on paper towels first helps, just gotta look at the big picture. My pops died from a stroke and high blood pressure and I ain't gonna follow. I check myself on a regular basis at the grocery store at the kiosk and I'm alway's low
 

 

[princess]

$.02

I had *really* bad heartburn when I was pregnant, and for what I see as obvious reasons did not want to take pills.  Eliminating carbonated beverages, using lots of pillows at night for propping me up and taking a TB or two of Apple Cider Vinegar twice a day all helped.

Thankfully, it went away once my baby boy was no longer trying to shove his feet into my esophagus. :)

 

[pandemonium]

Pizza is not the culprit. If you make your own with no salt, or less salt it works. Fresh ground pork instead of store bought sausage, Tomato sauce instead of pizza sauce. Add fresh herbs and smoked cheese. Cook the meats and drain on paper towels first helps, just gotta look at the big picture. My pops died from a stroke and high blood pressure and I ain't gonna follow. I check myself on a regular basis at the grocery store at the kiosk and I'm alway's low
 

its the tomato or pizza sauce that is my problem, always has been, maybe thats why im not into italian food, but i cant have eiher type sauce but i can have hot buffalo wings and other spicy foods and they dont bother me, weird

 

[squirrel]

Pande I'd be willing to bet it's the acid from the tomatoes that are causing the problem. Make a homemade pizza like meateater said, but try using the yellow tomatoes. Just slice some up and put on the pizza and don't use a tomatoe sauce. Hot sauce is made from peppers, not acidic tomatoes. I grew the low-acid tomatoes this year and they were wonderful! No heartburn at all! Most grocery stores carry them.

 

[squirrel]

$.02

I had *really* bad heartburn when I was pregnant, and for what I see as obvious reasons did not want to take pills.  Eliminating carbonated beverages, using lots of pillows at night for propping me up and taking a TB or two of Apple Cider Vinegar twice a day all helped.

Thankfully, it went away once my baby boy was no longer trying to shove his feet into my esophagus. :)

LOL! Princess! That's too funny. I was a fire breathing dragon when I was pregnant. The smell of food gave me heartburn, indigestion, gas, headaches.

 

 

[meateater]

its the tomato or pizza sauce that is my problem, always has been, maybe thats why im not into italian food, but i cant have eiher type sauce but i can have hot buffalo wings and other spicy foods and they dont bother me, weird

I would not be a happy camper if I couldn't have my mater juice every day. I drink 16 oz. a day, that's my crutch. Tomato and hot peppers are two different families, you think the hot peppers would be worse but usually not the case. Something most folks don't know, peppers are a veggy, maters are a fruit.
 

 

[pandemonium]

Thank god i can eat hot sauce because i can sure live without tomato sauce, Meat I just read that anything with seeds in it is technically a fruit, thats weird I just heard this elsewhere today as well.Squirrel I hear you on the tomatoes and i think i could use red ones because i can eat tomato slices on hamburgers without a problem, hmm well i havent had them since my pills ran out so guess i will have to find that out now tht I think about it.

 

[princess]

 Something most folks don't know, peppers are a veggy, maters are a fruit.

::puts on GeekHat:: 

Oooh! Oooh! Pick me! I know this one!!

TECHNICALLY...  they are both fruits AND vegetables! The botanical question is this: Does the part YOU EAT have seeds? If the answer is YES, then it is a fruit!! So yeah, Tomatoes, Pumpkins, Cucumbers, Squash, Green Beans and our beloved Peppers are ALL Botanically Fruit.

Having said that... The very word "vegetable" is not a botanical term at all. It is a culinary term. From that standpoint, all parts of herbaceous plants eaten as food by humans, whole or in part, are generally considered vegetables. This would include things like edible fungus (mushrooms), legumes (beans) and flowers (including broccoli) and both tomatoes and peppers, too!

Wait! It gets better! The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled WAY BACK in 1883 (Nix -v- Hedden) that even though it is botanically a fruit, legally, a tomato shall be called a vegetable because it is eaten as a main course and never as a dessert. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nix_v._Hedden

::takes off GeekHat::

Cheers!

-Princess

 

[eman]

All i know is tomato sauce , watermelon and cucumbers or anything w/ cucumbers in it gives me fits.

 I make all my pasta an pizza  sauces and cook them for hours to try to reduce the acidity . sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.

 I just take a pill 1 hr b4 eating anything w/ tomato sauce.

i don't even try the watermelon or cukes.

 

[rdknb]

I took Prilosec for years.  Being Diabetic the insulin can somehow give heart burn and the Doctor worried about the long term effect on that.  All that being said I ran out about a month ago and had 0 refills and noticed I have not had any heart burn,so I am thinking the need it gone.

 

[pandemonium]

All i know is tomato sauce , watermelon and cucumbers or anything w/ cucumbers in it gives me fits.

 I make all my pasta an pizza  sauces and cook them for hours to try to reduce the acidity . sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.

 I just take a pill 1 hr b4 eating anything w/ tomato sauce.

i don't even try the watermelon or cukes.

your right cucumber kicks my a@@ too

 

[pandemonium]

i wont go into details but things in the bathroom have gone from soft to well painfull like the ones when you were younger as in alot more solid, and thats more of a normal deal so I really want to get off these bs pills!! also it was becoming worse like oh crap i have to go after every meal and now im not doing that anymore whooohoo

 

[pandemonium]

Did I cross the line on the last post? lol well I wanted to share the positives of not taking the pills too.

 

[athabaskar]

I tend to shy away from pills as much as possible, and I agree with many of the posters that good food choices and prep are probably best. For some people however, it is a medical condition that needs more aggressive treatment. My wife works for a gastroenterologist. He prescribes Prevacid (lansoprazole). I'm not endorsing it. Only saying that there are other types of PPIs that might be more tolerable to some people.

 

[bbqfriend]

Does anyone know if there is any proven relationship between high sodium and heartburn? its hard to seperate greasy food from salty food they kinda go together.